THIS year’s Oscars kick off on Sunday night with La La Land widely expected to make Academy Award history, but one group of people have managed to correctly predict the outcome for 12 straight years.

Oscars 2017: Emma Stone and Viola Davis are tipped to win big at the Academy Awards

And the mystical group of Academy Award sooth-sayers?

Why, that would be the bookies!

Hollywood’s highest honours will be handed out during the 89th annual Oscar ceremony but despite the results being a closely guarded secret, the bookmakers odds are already indicating the likely winners - and they've never missed since 2004.

Viewers are guaranteed a night of red carpet interviews and long acceptance speeches overseen by host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel.

Stephen Woodcock, a senior lecturer in Mathematics from the University of Technology Sydney, says there are a number of reasons the ceremony is so predictable.

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Perhaps the Oscars are so certain because previous awards tip off the public, or maybe people are good at sensing broader public opinion

Stephen Woodcock

Writing for The Conversation, he said: “The Oscars are chosen by more than 6,000 voting members of the 17 branches of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences.

“Why are they so predictable? Bookmakers derive their odds from public opinion - where people are putting their money.

“Perhaps the Oscars are so certain because previous awards tip off the public, or maybe people are good at sensing broader public opinion.

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La La Land is widely tipped to win Best Picture

“Perhaps also, there’s a good old-fashioned Oscar voter leaking their ballot to influence the odds.”

Since 2004, the bookies’ favourite has won Best Actor every year apart from in 2009 when Sean Penn won the Oscar for Milk despite being second favourite.

Mr Woodcock said: “You can figure out approximately how likely the bookmakers are rating a nominee to win by doing the following calculation: A$1/odds x 100%. For example, with odds of A$2.50, 2006 Best Picture Crash was thought to have about a 40% chance of success.”

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Denzel Washington could scoop Best Actor for his performance in Fences

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La La Land could make Oscar history with 14 nominations

For the last nine years the gongs for the main categories of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress have all been stopped by the bookmakers favourite or second favourite.

Which means musical La La Land could make Oscar history after being nominated for 14 prizes, tying the record set by All About Eve and Titanic, and could become the most decorated film of all time.

Mr Woodcock said: “If history repeats itself, it seems safe to assume that the cast and crew of La La Land might just skip, twirl and dance away from Hollywood Boulevard with a little bit more gold for their mantelpieces. The film itself, plus actress Emma Stone, and director Damien Chazelle are all heavily-tipped for success.

“Similarly, Mahershala Ali for Supporting Actor in Moonlight, and Viola Davis for Supporting Actress in Fences look to have every reason to feel confident.

“According to the bookmakers, only this year’s Best Actor race should be difficult to predict. Casey Affleck’s performance in Manchester by the Sea is favoured at A$1.57, barely ahead of Denzel Washington at A$2.10.”

It could be a disappointing night for British nominees, as the UK slumped to its lowest number of Oscar nominations for at least 10 years.

Britain has just 12 nominations at this year's ceremony, the lowest for at least a decade.

Oscars 2017: Best actor nominations

Tue, January 24, 2017

Oscars 2017: Here are the nominations for the Best Actor Academy Award.